The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

In early January, Cathy Case and I fished Lake El Salto in Mexico as members of a small hosted group. This was an Angling on the Fly trip. Charlie Bisharat, who hosted this trip, is an Umpqua fly designer. He designed the Airhead, Pole Dancer and other flies used for striper, LMB and other species. Since the group was so small, both Cathy and I were able to spend half a day in the boat with Charlie to get some tips on catching the LMB.
Lake El Salto is known worldwide in bass fishing circles as a place of trophy Large Mouth Bass. We stayed at Angler’s Inn, which is known for its’ outstanding service. Both lived up to their reputation. They fed us very well. This man-made reservoir at the base of the Sierra Madre Mountains is also a bird lover’s paradise.
Lake El Salto is located approximately 1 ½ hours from Mazatlan. We were met at the airport by an employee of Angler’s Inn who led to the Angler’s Inn van outside. Our gear was loaded in the comfortable van which was also stocked with cold refreshments such as bottled water and beer. It was an interesting drive thru Mazatlan and the Mexican countryside. On the way, we passed many nurseries where tomatoes and other vegetables were grown for the American table.
Once we arrived at the lodge, we were greeted with cold margaritas and shown to our rooms. The rooms were quite comfortable with air-conditioning, ceiling fan, and screened windows that open. The room also had rod racks. The room was stocked with lots of bottled water for our convenience. Daily laundry service was part of the package so I was in seventh heaven.
After lunch, we promptly unpacked and rigged up our fly rods for the next days’ adventure. The routine was that we were awakened by an employee knocking on our door at 4am holding 2 cups of hot coffee for us. Approximately 20 minutes, they also brought a 2nd cup of coffee for us. I had requested coffee at 4am instead of the usual 5am so that we would have plenty of time to get dress for the 5:30am breakfast. After the breakfast which included fresh fruit, cereal, potatoes, bacon and custom made omelets, we loaded the van for the 5 min drive to the beach where the boats were docked. . Normally we would walk down to the beach, but the water was very low. Due to a freezing cold spell early in 2011, crops had to be replanted and drawing the lake down further.
The unusually low water worked in our flavor, to concentrate the pre-spawning bass and enable us to see more of the trees lining the shoreline that would be normally hidden. Of course, there were also plenty of hidden trees in the water also. We became really good at getting our stuck flies back from the trees. The steepness of the shoreline determine which type of sinking fly line was used to handled the big bulky, air resistant bass flies that we were using. The big bass were easily handled on our beefy 8-9 weight fly rods using these fly lines. I caught lots of bass using all of my fly lines. Bass were caught on a variety of bass flies such as clousers, tilapia, gummy minnows, chewies, and airheads. Charlie tied up his latest design so we are able to cast his latest popper before it hit the market. It worked great.
Everyone caught lots of bass, even some 7-8 pounder’s . The fishing was incredible. Among the best moments was my last cast of the trip, where I landed a 8lb 9 oz bass which was the largest bass caught by anyone in our group.

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another El Salto beauty

Loretta,

Wow, you didn't even have to turn the coffee pot on!!!

Nice report and pix, thanks for sharing!

Wow ... now that a chunk of Bass ! Sounds like an awesome
trip Lorretta, Congrats !!!!!
Thanks for a Great report
Mark

fun!!

thanks

Paul

Wow! That's a big bass, Loretta !

Great report Loretta. That was one Jurassic looking bass!! OK, you have finally made me jealous but also very happy for you!!!!

Wow! What an excellent trip. Thanks for sharing those awesome pics.